Guardian Heroes (ガーディアン ヒーローズ, Gādian Hīrōzu?) is a 2D side-scrolling beat 'em up and hack & slash action RPG video game in the vein of Final Fight or Golden Axe. The game features RPG elements. Guardian Heroes was developed by Treasure and released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn video game console. A sequel was released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance entitled Advance Guardian Heroes.
Guardian Heroes is often considered to be one of the greatest games for the Sega Saturn and the beat'em up genre by both critics and fans. The game allowed players to alter the storyline through their actions, such as choosing between a number of branching paths leading to multiple endings and through the Karma meter which changes depending on whether the player kills civilians or shows mercy to enemies. Its music was also praised, combining electronically composed tracks with electric guitar and saxophones. The music was composed by Hideki Matsutake, a former member of electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Nazo Suzuki.
Famous quotes containing the words guardian and/or heroes:
“It’s not the bullet with my name on it that worries me. It’s the one that says “To whom it may concern.””
—Anonymous Belfast Resident. quoted in Guardian (London, Oct. 16, 1991)
“On the whole, my respect for my fellow-men, except as one may outweigh a million, is not being increased these days.... Such do not know that like the seed is the fruit, and that, in the moral world, when good seed is planted, good fruit is inevitable, and does not depend on our watering and cultivating; that when you plant, or bury, a hero in his field, a crop of heroes is sure to spring up. This is a seed of such force and vitality, that it does not ask our leave to germinate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)